CreateAthon® To Surpass $15 Million in Free Marketing Services for Nonprofits

COLUMBIA, S.C., Sept. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CreateAthon®, a program that encourages people in the communicating arts to put their creative skills to work for social good, gets underway this week in cities across the US and Canada. The program works like this: marketing firms, universities, corporate marketing departments and professional organizations donate their strategic marketing and creative talent to nonprofits during 24-hour marathon events.

During these events, professionals and students develop brand strategies and marketing plans, along with print, broadcast and digital materials to support those plans. The objective is to give nonprofit organizations that could otherwise not afford professional marketing services the opportunity to benefit from marketing and creative services that can help to support their missions and the causes they represent.

CreateAthon was founded in 1998 by Riggs Partners, a creative marketing consultancy in Columbia, South Carolina. It has grown from a single-market event to a 501 (c) (3) organization that has recruited more than 80 marketing firms, universities, corporate marketing departments and professional organizations as official CreateAthon partners. Cumulatively, CreateAthon has served more than 1,275 nonprofit organizations in North America by delivering approximately 3,100 pro bono marketing projects valued in excess of $15 million.

"It's so exciting to see the ways in which CreateAthon has grown," said Teresa Coles of Riggs Partners. "There's a rising tide of pro bono and skills-based volunteerism in corporate America, and we're thrilled to see the CreateAthon model gaining momentum nationally. Our hope is that we can recruit more marketing professionals and students into the CreateAthon movement, so that more nonprofits across the US will benefit from the program."

In the last year alone, CreateAthon has attracted the attention of several leading organizations. Some are studying the pro bono marathon model as an avenue for corporate service, while others have already adopted the model and are holding CreateAthon events:

• AIGA, the nation's oldest and largest organization for design professionals, has endorsed CreateAthon as a service model. Two AIGA chapters are hosting events this year, including AIGA Austin, one of the most active chapters in the US. 
• Altria, a Fortune 200 consumer goods company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia is partnering with CreateAthon to hold its largest pro bono marketing event this fall with more than 25 brand professionals.
• A representative from BMW Foundation in Munich, Germany, will attend the Riggs Partners CreateAthon event in Columbia, SC, this week as part of a fellowship experience the foundation is sponsoring to learn more about leading pro bono models in the US.

Discovery Communications adopted the CreateAthon model two years ago as a strategy to engage its marketing professionals in skills-based volunteerism. CreateAthon was named "one of the eight top models of pro bono service" in a recent study conducted by the Taproot Foundation. The creative marathon was also featured earlier this year as part of an interview series among leading corporate philanthropists in The Huffington Post.

Marketing and creative professionals interested in becoming a CreateAthon partner may visit www.createathon.com or www.facebook.com/nationalcreateathon.

About Riggs Partners
Riggs Partners is a creative marketing consultancy that specializes in developing cross-channel communications programs for socially conscious companies and nonprofit organizations. Visit the company at riggspartners.com.

SOURCE CreateAthon